For a patient having his natural teeth in both jaws the occlusion and the relative arrangement of the jaws in occlusion are defined by these teeth. Some patients are missing teeth to an extent where the occlusion no longer can be defined by the natural teeth alone. This is e.g. the case for a patient having at least one completely edentulous jaw. It may also be the case for a patient where some teeth are present but the antagonist teeth are not present.
A denture is a prosthetic device used for replacing teeth of an edentulous patient. The denture has a number of artificial denture teeth and a base part preferably shaped and colored to mimic the patient's gum to provide the most aesthetic appearance. The gum-facing surface of the base part of a conventional denture is configured for contacting the dental tissue of the jaw, i.e. the gum surface of the patient's alveolar ridge, in such a manner that the conventional denture is attached to the jaw by suction. Attaching by suction provides that the denture is removable but also that it may unintentionally release from the jaw. An alternative to a conventional denture is an implant-supported denture where the denture is fixated to the patient's jaw bone via implants secured in the jaw bone. This provides that the denture is held firmly in the correct position in the patient's mouth.
For a patient wearing a denture at a first one of the jaws, the occlusion can be defined by the denture teeth in collaboration with either teeth of a denture arranged at the opposing second one of the jaws or natural or implant supported teeth of the second one of the jaws. I.e. the natural, implant supported or artificial teeth of the second jaw acts as the antagonist teeth for the teeth of the denture in the first jaw.
The relative arrangement of an edentulous patient's jaws in a bite situation depends on the design of the denture. If e.g. the height of the denture teeth or denture base is increased, the corresponding jaw is moved further away from the occlusal plane and the other jaw.
When a patient has been wearing a conventional denture or a try-in denture for a while and has found that its design provides a good and pleasant jaw motion during a bite he may wish that the relative arrangement of the jaws in the denture defined occlusion is transferred to a new denture, such as to a new implant based denture.
Intra-oral scanning of e.g. a completely edentulous patient without the denture can provide digital 3D representations comprising surface data relating to the dental tissue in the patient's jaws. Arranging the denture in the mouth and scanning with the denture teeth in occlusion can provide a so-called bite scan which provides information relation to the relative arrangement of the first and second parts of the denture in occlusion. However this approach is not sufficient to provide information of the relative arrangement of the edentulous patient's jaws in the occlusion defined by the denture.
It thus remains a problem to provide a method for determining the relative arrangement of patient's jaws in a bite position when the patient's occlusion is not defined by the patient's natural teeth alone.